Indoors vs. Outdoors
Simone Jablonski · Research in Integrated STEM Education · 2023
Abstract Modelling activities serve to integrate real-life objects into STEM classes. This article investigates different settings for modelling with real objects and their representations both inside and outside the classroom. Using the example of mathematics, the settings working outside the classroom at the real object, inside the classroom with photos, and inside the classroom with a 3D model are considered and compared in an explorative study with 29 students. Questionnaire items provide information about the students’ perceptions of the different settings. The results report significant differences in the simplifying and structuring step as well as in the mathematising step when comparing the settings outside and inside with photos. The results are taken up for generating hypotheses concerning the role of the outdoors in interdisciplinary STEM modelling activities.